A gaming terminal enables players to play games. For example, a gaming terminal may be implemented to enable players to play games of chance or lottery games. In various aspects, a gaming system comprised of gaming terminals is implement across multiple locations. The gaming system monitors aspects of the gaming terminals within the gaming system.
The present disclosure relates to technologies for enabling monitoring and managing aspects of gaming terminals and related game plays. In some embodiments, a method of monitoring a gaming terminal comprises steps of receiving, by a companion board communicatively coupled to a gaming board of the gaming terminal, data regarding various aspects of game play at the gaming terminal; transmitting, by the companion board, the data to a communication board utilizing a first protocol; and transmitting, by the communication board, the data from the communication board to a monitoring system utilizing a second protocol.
In further embodiments, an apparatus for monitoring a legacy gaming terminal comprises a communications board communicatively coupled to a gaming board of the legacy gaming terminal and configured to receive information regarding various aspects of game play from the gaming board. The communications board is further configured to transmit data associated with the information to a monitoring system utilizing the standard Slot Accounting System (“SAS”) protocol. The apparatus may further comprise a companion board interposed between a processing resource of the gaming board and a memory module of the gaming board and communicatively coupled to the communications board. The companion board is configured to intercept writes of information to the memory module by the processing resource and transmit the data associated with the information to the communications board.
In further embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium contains processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing resource on a companion board communicatively coupled to a gaming board of a gaming terminal, cause the processing resource to detect a change of information in a memory module of the gaming board and transmit data associated with the changed information to a communications board utilizing a first protocol, wherein the communication board is configured to transmit the data to a monitoring system utilizing a second protocol.
Various implementations described in the present disclosure may include additional systems, methods, features, and advantages, which may not necessarily be expressly disclosed herein but will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. It is intended that all such systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within the present disclosure and protected by the accompanying claims.
The following detailed description references the drawings, in which:
Gaming terminals enable players to play games of chance, lottery games or other suitable types of games. These gaming terminals may be deployed in various locations such as retail establishments (e.g., gas stations, convenience stores, grocery stores, airports, etc.). Players may pay the games of chance or lottery games by depositing money or credits into a gaming terminal. If the player wins a game, the player may receive money or credits in return. In examples, the credits received for a win comprise discounts on merchandise at the retail establishment, free merchandise at the retail establishment, credit to be used for future game plays, and the like or combinations thereof.
In order to ensure fair and accurate game play, jurisdictional governmental entities may implement requirements for monitoring and managing the gaming terminals. To satisfy these requirements, front end computing systems may be implemented at the retail establishments having the gaming terminals to monitor and manage the gaming terminals. A front end computing system may be communicatively connected to a game board of each of the gaming terminals. The game board facilitates game play and monitors aspects of the game (e.g., money in, money out, credits in, credits out, number of games played, number of games won, frequency of games won, door alarms, etc.) and collects data associated therewith. These data may then be transmitted to the front end computing system at the retail location, which may relay the data to a gaming management system.
Although the current approaches provide some game play monitoring and management aspects, the current approaches are limited to collecting limited types of data. Accordingly, some of the current approaches do not comply with new and changing jurisdictional requirements. Moreover, the current approaches are limited in that they do not provide for additional game play and management features. Currently there are numerous gaming machines operating in the field. Due to the changed legislation in certain jurisdictions with the purpose to have better control over gaming machines' operators, these gaming terminals must be connected to central supervisory system using gaming industries' standard slot accounting system (SAS) protocol which provides the gaming management system information about the gaming terminals. Some gaming terminals already installed in the field are of a relatively old design and are considered legacy gaming terminals. The change of hardware and software required to support the newly required SAS functionality would induce serious investment costs.
Various implementations are described herein by referring to several examples of gaming terminal management techniques. In one example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a gaming terminal comprises a game board, a companion board, and a communication board.
In another example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a gaming terminal comprises a game board having a processing resource and a memory resource, a companion board communicatively coupled to the game board between the game board and the memory of the game, and a communication board communicatively coupled to the game board and the companion board.
In another example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a gaming terminal comprises a game board having a processing resource and a memory resource, a companion board communicatively coupled to the game board between the game board and the memory of the game board to enable the companion board to read data as it is written to the memory of the game board, and a communication board communicatively coupled to the game board and the companion board to communicate the data read by the companion board to a front end computing system.
In another example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure a gaming terminal communication board comprises a first port configured to communicatively couple the communication board to the front end computing system, and wherein the communication board comprises a second port configured to communicatively couple the communication board to a legacy front end computing system.
In another example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a method to monitor a gaming terminal comprises receiving data via a companion board communicatively coupled to a game board of a gaming terminal between the game board and a memory of the game board, and communicating the received data to a front end computing system.
In another example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a point of sale system comprises a processing resource, and a memory resource, the memory resource configured to perform the steps of receiving data from a plurality of gaming terminals, and transmitting the data received from the plurality of gaming terminals to a gaming system.
Generally, the present disclosure enables monitoring and managing aspects of gaming terminals and related game plays. In examples, the presently described techniques enabling collecting previously unavailable data and transmitting it to computing systems for monitoring and analysis. The present techniques provide additional functionality at lower costs than existing implementations. Additionally, the present disclosure provides a slot accounting system (SAS) protocol solution for gaming machines without changing the hardware or software on said gaming machines. Moreover, the present disclosure overcomes presented problems by adding additional proprietary hardware with proprietary firmware which implements the functionality requested by the SAS protocol without changing the gaming terminal hardware (the game board) and software. These include but are not limited to gaming terminal accounting, events reporting (exceptions), and providing the mechanism for transfer of credits to and from the gaming terminal. These and other advantages will be apparent from the description that follows.
Generally,
In the example illustrated in
The gaming terminals are communicatively connected to the front end computing systems. For example, at location 101a, gaming terminals 102a-102c are communicatively connected to the front end computing system 120a. Similarly, at location 101b, gaming terminals 102d-102f are communicatively connected to the front end computing system 120b. In examples, the gaming terminals 102d-102f are also communicatively connected to the legacy central management system 121.
The arrowed solid and dotted lines of
In examples, the communicative paths (or connections) between and among the gaming terminals 102a-c and front end computing system 120a at location 101a, and the communicative connections between and among the gaming terminals 102d-f, front end computing system 120b, and legacy central management system 121 may comprise Ethernet or other internet protocol connections, serial RS-232 connections, wireless network connections (e.g., 802.11 compliant connections, Bluetooth corrections, radio frequency connections, etc.) and any other suitable connection and combinations thereof. In examples, cellular technologies such as GSM, GPRS, CDMA, SMS, or other suitable protocols may be utilized. Other techniques may also be utilized, including radio frequency, infrared, Bluetooth, or other wireless and/or wired communications techniques and combinations thereof.
Although not shown in
Additionally, the gaming terminals 102a-f, the front end computing systems 120a and 102b, the legacy central management system 121, the network 140, the back end computing system 142, and the legacy back end computing system 143 may include engines for executing programmatic instructions. In examples, the engines may be a combination of hardware and programming. The programming may be processor executable instructions stored on a tangible memory, and the hardware may include processing resource, for example, for executing those instructions. Thus a memory resource (not shown) can be said to store program instructions that when executed by the processing resource implement the engines described herein. Other engines may also be utilized to include other features and functionality described in other examples herein.
Alternatively or additionally, the gaming terminals 102a-f, the front end computing systems 120a and 102b, the legacy central management system 121, the back end computing system 142, and the legacy back end computing system 143 may include dedicated hardware, such as one or more integrated circuits, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application Specific Special Processors (ASSPs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or any combination of the foregoing examples of dedicated hardware, for performing the techniques described herein. In some implementations, multiple processing resources (or processing resources utilizing multiple processing cores) may be used, as appropriate, along with multiple memory resources and/or types of memory resources.
Additionally, the gaming terminals 102a-f, the front end computing systems 120a and 102b, the legacy central management system 121, the back end computing system 142, and the legacy back end computing system 143 may include a display. The display may be or include a monitor, a touchscreen, a projection device, and/or a touch/sensory display device. The display may display text, images, and other appropriate graphical content. The gaming terminals 102a-f, the front end computing systems 120a and 102b, the legacy central management system 121, the back end computing system 142, and the legacy back end computing system 143 may also include a network interface to communicatively couple the devices, such as via the network 140, and to other computing systems and/or computing devices. The gaming terminals 102a-f, the front end computing systems 120a and 102b, the legacy central management system 121, the back end computing system 142, and the legacy back end computing system 143 may also include any suitable input and/or output device, such as a mouse, keyboard, printer, magnetic card reader, radio frequency identifier (RFID) reader, bar code reader, external disk drive, or the like.
The legacy central management system 121 may be an existing computing system within a location that is configured to track certain limited aspects of the gaming terminals 102d-f). An example of a legacy central management system 121 is an Interlot system. The legacy central management system 121 is configured to communicate data relating to the limited aspects to the legacy back end computing system 143.
As will be further understood, the functionality and additional details of the gaming management system 100 of
The data is collected at the game board, for example, by companion board 212. The companion board 212 is communicatively coupled to the game board 210 of the gaming terminal 202 between the game board 210 and a memory of the game board (not illustrated). This enables the companion board 212 to read data as it is written to the memory of the game board. Companion board 212 is also communicatively coupled to communication board 214, either directly and/or through a wired (e.g., a wiring harness) or wireless connection, for example, at port 7 of communication board. In this way, the data collected by game board 212 is communicated to communication board 214.
In examples, companion board 212 is communicatively coupled to the game board 210 in such a way that game board 210 is unaware of the existence of companion board 212. For example, the companion board 212 may be coupled between game board 210 and a memory module of the game board 210. During installation, the memory module may be temporarily removed from game board 210. Companion board 212 is then installed on game board 212, and the memory module is then reinstalled onto companion board 212. In this way, companion board 212 reads the data transferred from game board 212 to the memory module as it passes through companion board 212. Accordingly, game board 210 operates as if companion board 212 were not communicatively coupled to the game board 210.
The data collected by the game board 210 and written to the memory module is collected by the companion board 212 and transmitted to communication board 214, which then transmits the data to a point of sale device, such as front end computing system 120b and/or legacy central management system 121 of
In the example of
In examples, the zero-power RAM retains information for backup and supervision purposes of the gaming terminal 202.
The communication board module retains a local copy of some accounting information and can also process and respond to different events from the gaming machine or requests from SAS hosts (the central management system 121 of
The PIC microchip controller, which may represent any suitable microcontroller or processing resource, as described herein, receives the copy of the collected data and transmits the collected data to the SAS box. In examples, the PIC microchip controller utilizes an I2C connection between the hover board and the SAS box to communicate the data to the SAS box, although other communication techniques may be implemented.
The present disclosure provides gaming terminals with the ability to support SAS protocol without changing the hardware or software of the gaming terminal with two parts: reading data from system bus without changing the data and then storing this data in dual-port RAM for possible simultaneous access from the gaming terminal and our system while providing data to the communication board module, which provides SAS functionality to a SAS host.
In examples, using port 8, the communication board 512 may also be coupled to a player tracking module, which may comprise a sensor, such as a radio frequency ID (RFID) sensor, a magnetic card reader, etc., to receive input from a player loyalty card to identify a player, receive credits from the player, transfer credits to the player, etc. The received information may be transmitted to a player tracking module of the front end computing system. Ports 7 and 8 may utilize I2C communication protocols, although other suitable techniques may be implemented.
The computing system 720 may include various components, modules, engines, etc., such as a game management module 724, a player tracking module 726, and a daisy chain jackpot module 728, which are described in more detail below in Appendix C. In particular, the game management module 724 enables the computing system 720 to receive game play data from the gaming terminals and manage data relating thereto. The player tracking module 726 manages players through player authorization and player fund tracking. The daisy chain jackpot module 728 manages a rolling daisy chain jackpot. Games played on the individual gaming terminals may contribute to a daisy chain jackpot tracked by the computing system 720, which may be paid out at random to a game player.
In examples, the computing system 720 interacts with a remote computing system such as back end computing system 142 of
Although not shown in
It should be understood that conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain examples include, while other examples do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or steps are in any way required for one or more particular examples or that one or more particular examples necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular example.
It should be emphasized that the above-described examples are merely possible examples of implementations and set forth for a clear understanding of the present disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described examples without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the present disclosure. Further, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover any and all appropriate combinations and sub-combinations of all elements, features, and aspects discussed above. All such appropriate modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure, and all possible claims to individual aspects or combinations of elements or steps are intended to be supported by the present disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/216,815, filed Sep. 10, 2015, and entitled “GAMING TERMINAL MANAGEMENT,” the entire disclosure of which, including the appendices, is hereby incorporated herein by this reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
20020155887 | Criss-Puszkiewicz | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20050239546 | Hedrick | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20090082109 | Sepich | Mar 2009 | A1 |
20100124983 | Gowin | May 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20170076543 A1 | Mar 2017 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62216815 | Sep 2015 | US |